Forwardly extending product information tags adapted to overlie elongated product support hooks to provide a display portion or label holder to provide product identification and information forwardly of the distal end of the hook are well know. Such hooks commonly have a proximal end adapted to be attached to a support surface such as an apertured board, a wire grid or the like, an elongated rod-like intermediate portion projecting substantially horizontally from the support surface for carrying products, and a free distal end for receipt and removal of the products suspended on the hook. There are many different forms of such hooks, several styles being illustratively shown, for example, in Fast U.S. Pat. No. 4,525,944 issued Jul. 2, 1985 (the Fast '944 patent), Fast U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,454 issued Mar. 3, 1987 (the Fast '454 patent), Fast U.S. Pat. No. 4,665,639 issued May 19, 1987 (the Fast '639 patent), Fast U.S. Pat. No. 4,693,024 issued Sep. 15, 1987 (the Fast '024 patent), Fast U.S. Pat. No. 4,698,929 issued Oct. 13, 1987 (the Fast '929 patent), Fast U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,570 issued Nov. 3, 1987 (the Fast '570 patent), Fast U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,135 issued Dec. 29, 1987 (the Fast '135 patent), Fast U.S. Pat. No. 4,754,563 issued Jul. 5, 1988 (the Fast '563 patent), and Gebka U.S. Pat. No. 5,261,175 issued Nov. 16, 1993 (the Gebka patent), the subject matter of each of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. Commonly, such hooks have a single elongated merchandise support rod, the distal end of which may be passed through apertures formed in the cards of blister-packed or other such products. Alternatively, the hook may comprise a pair of laterally spaced rods or it may be formed by a U-shaped loop of plastic or metal. While the two rods of a double rod may be used to individually support apertured products, they commonly are designed to together receive products with elongated slots defined therein, much like the U-shaped loop.
The rod or rods forming the merchandise support hook may have any desired cross-section, but generally are circular in cross-section and may be formed of wire or other such material of different gauges and varying length.
Depending on the type of support, the proximal end of such hooks may take various forms. For example, the mounting means may include a pair of spaced, horizontally extending arms which project through two openings in an apertured board, and are bent upwardly behind the board so as to retain the bracket and support hook in place. With a single rod, the mounting arms may be carried by a cross-bar or be formed as apart of a mounting plate to which the proximal end of the support hook is secured. In the case of the double-looped hook, the proximal end of the pair of rods may include generally upwardly extending arms or sections adapted to be engaged in juxtaposed openings of an apertured board or the like.
As mentioned, while elongated hooks of the type described are commonly carried by apertured boards, oftentimes such hooks are adapted to be affixed to a different type of support surface, such as elongated rods, grids, angle irons, plates or racks. Over the years, various adaptations of forwardly extending product information tags have been developed for use with such different forms of elongated hooks. Exemplary of such products are those shown in the aforementioned Fast and Gebka patents, and others.
For the most part, forwardly extending product information display tags of the type described have been adapted to be supported in one form or another at their proximal end at the point where the proximal end of the hook is secured to a support surface. Thus, as will be seen from the referenced patents, it has been necessary heretofore to provide individualized mounting means on the proximal end ofthe forwardly extending information tag, depending upon the type of hook used, the support surface for the hook and the mechanism by which the hook is secured to the support surface. Considering the variety of applications, this is obviously an expensive and inconvenient solution, retailers preferring to minimize the number of styles of label holders necessary to accommodate the wide variety of hooks in use.
The one thing common to substantially all such hook arrangements is at least one forwardly extending elongated rod adapted to carry products. In Karnes et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,080 issued Jun. 19, 1990 (the Karnes et al patent), support for the proximal end of the forwardly extending elongated tag is provided by a separate element in the form of a saddle member slidably and removably mounted on the elongated rod-like intermediate portion of the hook, generally adjacent the proximal end of the hook The Karnes et al saddle can have a single clasp for mounting the same on a hook with a single rod, or a pair of spaced clasps for mounting the same on a double rod or loop hook.
The Karnes et al saddle member defines a generally horizontally extending support surface with upstanding projections adapted to be frictionally engaged in complementary apertures defined in the tag. The use of such a saddle member enables the elongated forwardly extending product information tag to be readily secured to a hook, without removing the hook from its engagement with an apertured board or other such support member. Moreover, with the saddle member carried by the forwardly extending rod-like portion of the hook, the mounting portion of the tag is not dependent upon the manner in which the support hook is engaged with an apertured board or other such support member. Thus, the design of the tag can be more universal.
While the Karnes et al saddle system minimizes the varieties of tag constructions necessary to accommodate different mounting systems and forms of hooks, the Karnes et al saddle is designed either for use with a single rod hook or a double rod or U-shaped loop hook and a single Karnes et al saddle construction is not adapted for use with different types of hooks. Additionally, Karnes et al either require different forms of saddle to accommodate different gauges of rods used in the merchandise support hooks, or complicated mechanisms, including set screws and the like, to adjust the clasps used to mount the saddle on the hook.
Moreover, since the forwardly extending merchandise information tags or overlays themselves are generally formed of relatively thin sheets of plastic material, they are not particularly rigid. Thus, when such tags are supported from their proximal end on a Kames et al-type saddle a relatively long segment of the plastic tag is cantilevered forwardly of the saddle which may result in a sagging of the intermediate or forward portion of the tag in use. At the very least, support of the distal end of the tag on the distal end of the hook is necessary to limit sagging under the weight of the label holder. With the tag supported on the front of the hook, it is necessary to lift the tag in order to add or remove product from the free end of the hook. Although not necessary for commercial application, it would obviously be desirable to provide a mechanism where the elongated immediate portion of the tag can be rigidified, minimize sagging, and even enabling the forward end of the tag to be retained in spaced relationship to the distal end of the hook thus making it easier to add product to the hook, or remove product from the hook. The Karnes et al system is not well suited to accomplish the foregoing.
Finally, retailers desire a system that will selectively reduce the overall length of usable space on a hook to thereby prevent clerks from overstocking which tends to reduce profitability. Thus, with a saddle-type system, it would be desirable to be able to position the saddle member at any desired location along the length of the hook to function as an inventory control, that is, to limit the portion of the hook on which products may be suspended by the interposition of the saddle, thereby ensuring that merchandise is retained on the forward portion of the hook, limiting overstocking and making product more readily available to the consumer. While Karnes et al recognize the desirability of positioning their saddle member at different locations along the length of the hook, since their system fails to rigidify the tag, support of the tag is less than satisfactory even if a complicated cover system proposed by Karnes et al is utilized.
Thus, while Karnes et al have reduced the varieties of tags necessary to accommodate different hooks and mounting systems, the Karnes et al system still requires a multiplicity of individualized or complicated saddle constructions, limiting the cost effectiveness of the Karnes et al concepts and reducing the commercial appeal of this system.